1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a patient support apparatus of the type used to support and position a patient during a medical examination.
2. Description Of the Prior Art
Patient support systems are known in the art which include a patient support plate and elements which are attached to, and act on, the support plate to lift and pivot the support plate. Such a table is disclosed for x-ray examinations in U.S. Pat. No. 2,534,623. This support table is pivotable around a load-bearing axis disposed in a mid-region of the support plate. In order to maintain the space required by this x-ray table as small as possible, a lifting mechanism is provided which lifts the axis of the table while the table is being pivoted around that axis. Proceeding from a horizontal position, the table can thus be pivoted into a vertical position with a low space requirement.
During anglographic examinations, it is frequently necessary to transirradiate a vessel from different directions for producing an image. If the patient support table is to be pivoted for this purpose, it is necessary that the table be pivotable around a stationary region. The aforementioned known x-ray table does not have a region which remains stationary during pivoting.